Neighbours from childhood join students at poignant stop

Around 50 people gathered for the special stop ranging from curious students who had barely heard of him to two sisters who had lived just doors away from him as children.

For Brenda Stephenson, 53, and Barbara Wilson, 60, of Headingley yesterday’s ceremony on Consort Terrace brought memories flooding back.

Barbara said: “He used to sit on the step and chat to us when we were young girls.

“I would give him my autograph book and he would get me signatures from all the stars – pictures of him shaking hands with Elvis, everybody. The book would come back to me full of autographs.”

Brenda said: “It was quite good living near to someone so famous and being able to brag to our schoolfriends about him.

“I remember him signing my pot when I fell down a neighbour’s cellar to cheer me up.”

Barbara added: “I was nine years old when I first met him, there was a church called the Little Sisters of the Poor and he would be dancing with the nuns on the balcony.

“We were poor kids, a family of seven, we didn’t have anything, but when bonfire night came around we would ask him if he would light our bonfire. He would joke: ‘OK as long as you put a guy of Cliff Richard on top of it’.

“Another time he would give me half a crown and I would buy a jug of ice cream. He was very kind-hearted.”

They also recalled his basement flat which seemed initially to be just a bare room but which when he pressed various buttons would see furniture, a music system and a bed coming out of the walls – a fascinating sight for youngsters without today’s technological gadgetry.

Ian McFadden, 65, said: “I was in hospital about 40 years ago with blood poisoning and when I woke up from the anaesthetic I saw this lovely figure at the end of the bed.

“I thought it was a blonde nurse but it was Jimmy. He brought me some tea and biscuits and cheered me up.” Peter Shillito said: “I knew him as a lad, he was very outgoing, he stood out, you definitely noticed him.”